Entertainment in the Age of Enlightenment: Mozart’s Contribution to Opera Buffa

This paper explores the role of Classical music in society during the 18th Century and analyzes the philosophical movements that affected society at the time. Humanism and the age of Enlightenment played a large role in the cultural mindsets of society, specifically in Europe, which influenced what type of works composers published and the content they deemed important. Increased emphasis was placed on human rationality, enjoyment, self-expression, and morality which affected the culture’s perspective on how they should dignify themselves. Opera Buffa, which is known as comic opera, incorporated these ideas and gave a voice to the middle and lower classes. Royalty and the upper class had dominated societal values, but this genre of opera sought to portray the upper as foolish and commend the lower for their intelligence. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a leading figure whose strength as an operatic composer originated from his skill as an instrumental composer. Because of his heavy involvement in freemasonry, Mozart became well acquainted with the values connected to the Enlightenment and portrayed these in the technical aspects of his Opera Buffa. Le nozze di Figaro, one of his three in the trifecta of Opera Buffa, follows the lives of Susanna and Figaro who are servants to the Count Almaviva and Countess Rosina. Susanna and Figaro are planning to be wed but not before the Count devises a plan to stir trouble between them. The pageboy, Cherubino, also adds to the confusion and chaos taking place as he battles with feelings of affection toward the Countess Rosina. Mozart shows his intentionality in several aspects of the opera, which this research seeks to uncover and present as a cohesive analysis of the role between musical performance and society